The Academic Minute features professors from top institutions around the country, delving into topics from the serious to the light-hearted, keeping listeners abreast of what's new and exciting in the academy.

Archive

In our August 22 podcast, Carol Schneider of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and Robert Townsend of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences discuss the academy's new analysis of the extent of course taking in the humanities and scientific fields. And the former Yale University President Benno Schmidt and Henry Reichman of the American Association of University Professors debate a new report urging trustees to push a more aggressive reform agenda on campuses.

How life began on Earth remains one of the main foci of scientists the world over. In today's Academic Minute, the University of Buckingham's Chandra Wickramasinghe offers his thoughts on a cosmological starting point for life on our planet.